German Potato Salad (my way)

As you know, or should do by now . . . we are real potato lovers in this house. A day without potatoes in one form, shape or another is just not the perfect day! We just have to have our potato fix!



A few days back I was wanting to make a German Potato Salad. Many moons when I lived in Southern Ontario we used to visit my Brother In Law when he was living in Windsor, Ontario. He had a fabulous butcher there who happened to be German. He made the most gorgeous cabbage rolls and potato salad.



Just thinking about it now, makes my taste buds tingle. They were that fabulous, I kid you not!



Anyways, ever since then I have been on a quest to find the most perfect recipes for both cabbage rolls and for the potato salad. I do believe I have gotten them both down to where I think they are pretty close to the original.



No, this is not an authentic recipe for German Potato Salad . . . so I don't want any purists e-mailing me and telling me I have it all wrong. This is just my idea of what I think is the perfect German Potato Salad.



Simply put . . . this recipe (which is a compilation of the best parts of several recipes I've tried through the years) does it for me and I am quite happy with it. I do hope you'll give it a try as you may just agree!



*German Potato Salad*
Serves 4 - 6
Printable Recipe

This is not an authentic recipe, but one that I came up with for myself, taking what I thought was the best bits of a few others and adding my own twist. The end result was delicious of course!

1 pounds small new potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1 TBS salt
8 strips of lean streaky bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch strips
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
125ml of white vinegar (1/2 cup)
4 TBS water
1 heaped TBS cornflour
6 TBS white sugar
1 TBS grainy mustard
freshly ground black pepper and fine seasalt to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Place the potatoes, 1 TBS salt and water to cover in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 8 minutes until barely tender. (There should still be a slight resistance when poked with a sharp knife) Drain well. Keep warm. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a shallow buttered casserole dish.

Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Scoop out to a paper towel lined plate. Drain all but a few TBS of the bacon fat from the pan. Add the chopped onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Whisk together the water and cornflour. Add to the skillet along with the vinegar, sugar and grainy mustard. Cook and stir until somewhat thickened. Stir in the warm potatoes, cooked bacon, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Pour this into the casserole dish.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender and the sauce has thickened. Serve warm.